I'm trying to run mvn release:prepare -DdryRun=true in a checkout of the https://svn.jboss.org/repos/jbossas/projects/javaee/trunk/ build dir, but its failing with an NPE. Looks to be some problem with the assembly descriptor. I see the same problem just trying to do an mvn install as well.

I don't think maven will have a problem with the period. The dash is the recommended convention, but maven seems to handle the period fine when dealing with release versions. It's just the snapshots that require a dash.

Reason: Could not find the model file '/home/svn/JBossHead/projects/javaee/trunk/build/target/jboss-ejb-api/pom.xml'. for project unknown
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Trace
org.apache.maven.reactor.MavenExecutionException: Could not find the model file '/home/svn/JBossHead/projects/javaee/trunk/build/target/jboss-ejb-api/pom.xml'. for project unknown
at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.getProjects(DefaultMaven.java:378)
at

seems like the bin.xml relative paths are not being resolved correctly.

I'll have to look into this a bit more, but I think it is because of the current structure of having the parent pom in the build subdirectory. We might need to separate the parent from the aggregator, similar to how microcontainer is set up.

I'll have to look into this a bit more, but I think it is because of the current structure of having the parent pom in the build subdirectory. We might need to separate the parent from the aggregator, similar to how microcontainer is set up.

That could explain why the release:prepare only created a tag with the build contents.

For now I think you will have to just create the tag manually, update the poms and then run mvn deploy from the tag. With simpler projects, the release plugin works ok, but there seem to be problems with some multi-module project structures.